Children of Loulan

The two men argued fiercely in the court, neither of them giving in. Seeing that they showed no signs of stopping, the king hurriedly called out to stop them:

"My two beloved ministers! You are both the pillars of our Loulan State. Let's put aside the issue of whether to go to war for now. We will come to the court to discuss this matter after the selection ceremony the day after tomorrow."

At this moment, the morning court session had already ended, but the king had learned about the attack by foreign tribes in advance, and deliberately left several officials here to understand the relevant situation. Unexpectedly, as soon as they heard the whole story, the two ministers started arguing over the strategy to deal with the enemy.

After all the ministers left, the queen stood up from the phoenix chair and slowly walked to Keremu. She reached out and held Keremu's hands, carefully looking at them and asking with concern: "Mu'er, are you okay? Were you injured in the battle with those foreign tribes?"

Keremu looked at his mother with a bright smile on his face: "Mother, don't worry, I am unharmed. Those foreigners are vulnerable and are no match for me at all." His voice was full of confidence and pride.

The queen looked at Keremu with concern in her eyes: "It was not easy for you to travel all the way to escort the beautiful girl to the palace. I have specially prepared your favorite fish for you in the palace. Come back with me as soon as possible."

Keremu felt a warm feeling in his heart, but he still declined politely, "Thank you for your kindness, mother. It's just that I'm covered in dust and haven't washed it off yet. And Madam Taji just returned to the palace. She must be exhausted from teaching the concubines. Besides, mother will be busy with the concubines' affairs soon, so I can't bother you at this time. When mother is free, I will go to the palace to pay my respects to her."

The queen seemed to want to say something else, but was interrupted by the king beside her: "Forget it, don't force the child. Let him go back and have a good rest first. I'm afraid he hasn't had a good sleep these days because of the long journey. It's okay for him to come to the palace later. As for the fish, you can send someone to deliver it to his house."

After hearing what the king said, the queen nodded in agreement. At the same time, she thought of Aunt Taji mentioned by Keremu, and thought that maybe Aunt Taji did have something important to discuss with her.

Keremu then said, "Then I will take my leave first and come back to see my mother another day." After that, he bowed to the queen and the king.

"In that case, you should go back and have a good rest. I will send someone to deliver the fish to you. You don't have to rush to the palace these days. You can come back after the selection is over."

Keremu replied respectfully: "As you wish, Father and Mother, I will take my leave now."

The queen looked at him with a loving gaze and said, "Okay, go ahead." After that, the queen watched Keremu turn around and slowly leave the palace.

According to palace regulations, all princes who are fifteen years old must leave the palace and build their own residences. At this moment, only the eldest and second princes in the palace have reached the age of fifteen, and their ages are only two months apart. As for the third prince, he is only fourteen years old and must wait until next year before he can leave the palace and build his own residence.

The 110 concubines who entered the palace this time were all settled in a rather spacious palace. When they had just settled in their respective rooms, a eunuch hurried over to pass on the imperial decree, telling the concubines that they could rest assured today and tomorrow, and the selection would officially begin the day after tomorrow.

The originally quiet palace suddenly became bustling with activity. The kitchens began to boil water for the girls to take a bath and change their clothes to wash away their fatigue from the journey. When they waited for the palace to return to silence again, all the doors were closed and the lights were turned off.

Keremu stood by the window, holding the pendant in his hand, looking at the moonlight outside. He thought of the blue figure again. As he thought about it, he naturally remembered the eyes of the other owner of the blue dress. Just when he was about to be lost in thought, he seemed to suddenly wake up and shook his head.

He patted his face again, trying to wake himself up, and reminded himself that the owner of those eyes was his father's daughter, how could he covet his father's woman? Besides, he already had Ainuer in his heart. Thinking of this, he looked at the pendant in his hand again, put it back in his arms, patted his cheeks hard, and then went into the house and went to bed.

After drinking the sedative, Hanguli fell into a deep sleep. Dal sat quietly beside the bed, holding her hand tightly, staring at the sleeping Hanguli with worried eyes.

After Bayer had sorted out all the things, he walked quietly to Dahl's side and asked in a low voice, "Sister, how is the young lady now?"

Dahl shook his head slightly and replied in a voice as thin as a mosquito: "Since the last time she was frightened, she has been very unstable when she falls asleep every night. She can only feel a little more at ease if she holds someone's hand tightly. I hope that after entering the palace, there will be a skilled doctor who can take good care of her body. Maybe she will be fine in two days."

Bayer looked at her sister with a sad face, and then turned to look at the young lady who was still frowning even though she was asleep. She felt more and more guilty. However, she did not dare to show this self-blame. After all, the young lady had said that it was because she wanted to save the young lady that she almost fell into the hands of the barbarian, and it was only natural for the young lady to help her.

"Sister, let's do this! I will sleep and rest in the first half of the night, and you will be responsible for watching over me. In the second half of the night, you will wake me up and let me take over." Dar nodded seriously. Bayer did not leave too far, but laid a simple mat on the floor beside Hanguli's bed, then lay down quietly, ready to fall asleep.

Meanwhile, in the Queen's palace, Aunt Taji finished washing and changed into the clothes worn by the palace attendants on duty. She stood straight in front of the Queen and reported to her in detail everything that happened in Mo City, especially mentioning that Hanguli had noticed twice that there was a problem with her medicine and that her life was about to end.

After the queen heard this, she was instantly filled with anger. She slammed the table and stood up, shouting in a deafening voice: "What a virtuous concubine! She has stretched her hands so far that she dares to easily lay hands on my people! Someone, quickly go and invite the head of the Imperial Hospital to come!"

Seeing this, Aunt Taji quickly comforted her, "Queen, calm down and take care of yourself!" The Queen calmed down a little after hearing this, but she still held Aunt Taji's hand tightly and sat down together. At this time, the Queen stared at the ground, as if thinking about something important.

"You have grown up with me since childhood. Since I was young, you have come to my side and taken good care of me. In a blink of an eye, several decades have passed. Whether in the mansion or in the palace, you have always been the one who protects me the most. No matter what happens, you will always stand up without hesitation and stand in front of me to protect me. You can rest assured that I will do my best to heal you."

The queen called herself "I" instead of "this lady" at this time. She did not raise her head when she spoke, and her face did not show any expression. But knowing what she was thinking in her heart, how could Aunt Taji not understand the deep love that the queen had for her?

"Your Majesty, the head of the academy has arrived."

The palace maid outside suddenly announced, breaking the original quiet atmosphere in the house.

Queen: "Yes."

Then, an old man in his sixties with gray hair walked in, followed closely by a little boy carrying a medicine box. After the two entered the room, they knelt down and saluted.

"This old minister greets the Queen!"

The Queen said: "Well, Dawuti, you are the head of the Imperial Hospital, so your medical skills are naturally the most exquisite and brilliant. I know that you are the king's confidant, but I summoned you today because I have a difficult disease and I want to ask the head of the hospital to help diagnose and treat it."

Dawuti felt a little uneasy when he heard the queen say this. All the ladies in the harem had tried to win him over, including the queen in front of him. However, he always adhered to the family's ancestral precepts and was only loyal to the king, and regarded this as the foundation for his family to serve in the Imperial Hospital for generations. In the past, although the queen intended to bribe him, she never forced him, let alone caused him trouble. But today, this atmosphere made people feel very unusual!

"Then please ask the head of the hospital to treat this maid of mine."

Madam Taji responded by walking forward, bowing to the head of the courtyard, and said respectfully, "Thank you, head of the courtyard."

Then, she turned to the medicine boy beside her and said, "Go out and wait outside first."

The medicine boy was very clever and knew the dangers of the palace. The more he knew, the closer his death would be. Therefore, he put down the medicine box in his hand without hesitation, bowed, and quickly turned and left.

After Aunt Taji sat down, she slowly stretched out her arm towards the head of the courtyard. The head of the courtyard stretched out three fingers and gently placed them on Aunt Taji's pulse. In just a moment, his face suddenly became extremely gloomy.

Seeing his sudden change of expression, Aunt Taji's heart sank. She knew very well that she had no hope now. However, compared with the panic she felt when she first learned that she was about to die, she felt unusually relaxed and relieved at this moment.

When the head of the hospital finished diagnosing the pulse, he knelt down in front of the queen without hesitation and said in a trembling voice: "Please forgive me, Queen! I am not well-trained and cannot cure the disease that this nanny suffers from. Facing such a disease, I am helpless!"

Although they were talking about a disease, everyone knew in their hearts that the disease was poisoning. When the queen heard the words of the head of the hospital, she stood there as if struck by lightning, as if she was frozen. It was only when the nanny beside her called her "Queen" three times that she was brought back to reality from her shock. The queen came to her senses and looked at the person in front of her who had been with her for decades in disbelief, with a look of grievance and pain on her face.